[Matt sent us these photos and description of his Miyata Six Ten. —ed.]

This bike is a Miyata SixTen and is a bit of a throwback to traditional steel touring bikes of the 80’s. I use this bike for commuting and recreation about equally. The front rack made by Velo Orange is great for groceries and other heavy bulky items. This bike came with a factory rear rack which is really nice, I have loaded it up around 60lbs and never had a problem although I have no idea what the actual specs are for the rack. I also put a 48t front chainring on in place of the original 53t. Basically I get the effect of a modern compact crank for the cost of a new chainring ($25) and I highly recommend it. I haven’t seen any drawbacks to it in the way I use this bike. The fenders have a reflective strip down the middle which is comforting in low light level conditions. The steel frame has lived up to my expectations in every way, but you definitely feel the weight on hills, although that could be due to my gearing as well. Overall, I have enjoyed the versatility of this bike and is on my top ten list of “if you could only have one bike…”. —Matt

Gorgeous. 1980s Japanese road bikes are my favorite bikes — high quality, good design, and cheap to acquire. Why buy a custom lugged bike when these are 90% as good at 5% (or less) of the cost? I just bought a Panasonic made Schwinn Voyager frame for $50 off Craigslist — and it included $40 fenders!

Look into an IRD freewheel – I have a 5 speed 13-32 on my “skinny bike”, an old 10 speed Raleigh Record Ace, and it’s key for getting up long, steep hills. They make wide-range 6 and 7 cog freewheels as well. Most of the friction shifters of the time are designed for ludicrous cog sizes, so swapping out the old 11-22 works swell. (I think the Suntour GT I’ve got can handle a 40t cog – I’ve never seen or heard of a 40t cog. Maybe for a tandem mountain bike?)

I have a 1982 Miyata 610 that I just started riding again about 3 yrs. ago. It looks like you have rubber brake hood covers. Where does one find these as they would go a long ways towards dampening road shock. My brake hoods are completely naked. Also, what size tires are you running? They appear bigger than the 1-1/4″ that came standard? I recently purchased a pair of Kenda K-161 1-3/8″ cross tires for winter, but haven’t mounted them yet. I removed the front & rear reflectors to provide adequate clearance.

Thanks all for the compliments on my bike, Wally my brake hoods are made by cane creek so Im pretty sure you can find some if you look around. I know Velo Orange carries Dia Compe brand brake hoods that should work just as well. A nice trick is to actually wrap your brakes in a strip of handlebar tape and then stretch the hoods over top of it, makes em nice and cushy :) Also those are actually 700c wheels with 35mm width tires which helps with rough roads and trail debris.
Kevin, I KNOW its not a real compact crank if you read my description you’ll see what Im talking about but for my needs its close enough and not really worth it to completely replace the entire crank/bb assembly.